


'Appy' Christmas

by robliz



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Misunderstandings, dating app
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28195692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robliz/pseuds/robliz
Summary: “For more mature lovers?” Serena questioned as Sian tried to show her how it all worked. “You’ve put my picture on an app with the tagline ‘For more mature lovers’?”Sian batted at her arm. “Come now Serena, neither of us are spring chickens anymore. Plus, the guys on here have money and experience, if you know what I mean.”Serena sighed. She knew this was all a terrible idea.Featuring interference from Sian and the AAU gang, plus a rather dashing surgeon who isn't exactly what Serena expected!
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Comments: 16
Kudos: 76
Collections: Berena Secret Santa 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kooili](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kooili/gifts).



> Written for kooili using the following prompts to different extents:  
> -Christmas match-making by the gang  
> -Looking for love online-hilarity ensues  
> -Penguins

It had all been Sian’s idea. Apparently she’d had enough of Serena’s constant moaning about being without a partner since she broke up with Robbie the Bobby and needed to do something about it, particularly with Christmas coming up. Serena didn’t think she’d been moaning that much. Sure, she’d like a partner, someone to come home to at the end of a long shift and someone to treat her to meals out and the suchlike. And it was definitely true that she missed certain bedroom activities. However much she knew how to take care of herself, it just wasn’t the same without someone else sharing her bed. And she might have mentioned this to Sian once or twice when they were out at a bar or sharing a bottle or two of wine in her sitting room but she was sure she hadn’t been too bad. But such was life and now Sian had set her up with a profile on some dating app.

“For more mature lovers?” Serena questioned as Sian tried to show her how it all worked. “You’ve put my picture on an app with the tagline ‘For more mature lovers’?”

Sian batted at her arm. “Come now Serena, neither of us are spring chickens anymore. Plus, the guys on here have money and experience, if you know what I mean.”

Serena sighed. She knew this was all a terrible idea. Her and Sian had such different ideas about dating and love.

“Anyway, your picture isn’t public on this app. You choose when to reveal it to any potential lovers. Leads to a better connection apparently, if you’re not thinking purely about their looks.”

Serena looked at her in surprise. “That doesn’t sound like the usual dating apps you use.”

“I picked this one for you,” Sian said, “I do occasionally take your preferences into consideration! And I know that while you are a red-blooded woman who appreciates a handsome man, you need the emotional connection as well.”

“Oh,” Serena said, taken aback slightly, “Well thank you.”

“So, you can flick through profiles here. And anyone you like, you can message by pressing here.”

Serena nodded.

“Oh and by the way Serena, if you do get down and dirty with anyone from here, I want to know every last detail, so make sure you’re taking notes!”

She didn’t touch the app for a few days, busy with work as usual, and had almost forgotten about its existence when her phone beeped at her one evening. Picking up her phone, she found a notification from the app. A message. Curious, she opened it up and found a message from a man named Tom asking her whether she had had a good day. She flicked back to his profile. He claimed to be 58 years old and an accountant by trade. His hobbies were listed as reading and fishing. Boring potentially, but still, who looks good in a short text profile.

She messaged back, saying that her day had been good but that she was glad it was over and she could sit back and relax with a nice glass of wine. Seconds later her phone pinged again, this time with a picture. Intrigued, Serena pressed to open it and then almost threw her phone across the room in shock. She twisted the phone around to get a better look and confirm that yes, she was looking at a picture of the man’s penis. So much for the boring accountant!

It wasn’t bad looking, Serena decided after some consideration, but it didn’t endear the man to her. Instead she worked her way through a short menu to find the block button. A man that thought that was the way to a woman’s heart was not the man for her.

Sighing she texted Sian.

_Thought this app was for mature people._

Sian replied almost instantly.

_Got your first dick pic?_

_Is this common? Is this what men think we want?_

_Unfortunately so. Although it does mean you get to check out the goods before you buy!_

Over the next few weeks, Serena found the block button very handy. There were plenty more dick pics as well as requests for nudes from her. In between there were a few messages from men who at least seemed like they knew how to treat a woman but they were all dull and conversation petered out after a few messages.

She received a message from a man named Adam while she was at work. Taking the opportunity to avoid the stack of paperwork that was piled up on her desk, she messaged back quickly. Adam, it seemed, worked for a bank, doing something he described as dull as dishwater but highly paid. Instead he talked about his travels, describing his recent trip to the Greek islands in such vivid detail that Serena almost felt like she’d been there herself. She responded with her plans for her trip to the Amalfi coast with Elinor next month and he gave her recommendations for where to eat. He asked more about her daughter and told her about his own sons from a previous marriage. All in all he was pleasant and thoughtful and exactly the type of person she thought she could fall in love with, given enough time.

She was so engrossed in this exchange of text messages that Raf had to knock twice to get her attention.

“What’s caught your attention this fine morning? Or should I say who?” he said.

Serena blushed. “Oh nothing, just this app Sian got me onto.”

“Sian signed you up for a dating app? That sounds dangerous.”

“Oh she’s not that bad. And anyway I was just having a lovely conversation with a nice gentleman. If he plays his cards right, I might let him take me out on a date sometime.”

“Right. Good. Anyway, can you come and give Mrs Wilson in bed 4 a second opinion please? I’m pretty certain she’s just got indigestion but she is insisting on seeing another doctor before she’ll let me discharge her.”

It was a few hours before she got back to the office in the end. While Mrs Wilson had indeed had indigestion, an RTC patient had come in while she was doing the consultation and she ended up in theatre fixing up their leg.

Still in her scrubs, she sank down into her chair and picked up her phone. There was a notification from the dating app which she eagerly opened, hoping for another message from Adam. She smiled when she saw that there was another message from him. In fact, she saw with growing confusion, there were a lot more messages from him. She started from the top of the thread, where the messages were normal, asking her further questions about herself, before descending rapidly into screaming horror. As far as she could tell, Adam had not responded well to the fact that she had been called away and therefore was no longer answering his messages. By the end of the messages he was full on ranting about how all women were bitches who didn’t care about men at all and so threw them away whenever they were bored.

Shocked, Serena fumbled with her phone to find that blessed block button. She leant back in her chair and tried to process what had just happened. How did a well-spoken, normal sounding man become whatever that was over the course of just a few hours? Well, she supposed, she’d dodged a bullet there. If she had gone on a date or even, god forbid, entered a relationship with him, who knows what he might have done one day when she was inevitably stuck in theatre.

She picked up her phone again and opened up the app. She aimlessly flicked through a few profiles, finding most of them dull sounding. She wondered whether there actually were any good men left out there or whether they had all been snatched up by clever women already. It was a shame she’d wasted so many years on Edward when she could have been spending them snagging one of these mythical good men for herself.

She contemplated giving it all up as a bad job and deleting the app. Her fingers hovered over the uninstall button before deciding to give it one more week. If she’d not found anyone worth finding in one week’s time, she’d delete the app and tell Sian that she wasn’t going to listen to any more of her dating advice in the future.

Fletch stuck his head around the door at the end of her shift.

“Albie’s tonight?” he asked. “I hear they’ve just got a new wine menu. Fancy checking out the new Shiraz?”

Serena let out a moan. “God yes. That is exactly what I need.”

“Bad day boss?”

“Not great,” Serena admitted.

“Hurry up and get changed then. You can tell us all about it at Albies.”

Albies was already bustling when Serena arrived. Raf waved at her from a table in the corner and she hurried over to join him, Fletch and Morven. A large glass of Shiraz was already sitting there in front of the empty chair.

“Fletch said you’d had a bad day. Thought you might need this before you tell us about it,” Raf said, edging the glass towards her.

She snatched at it gladly, ignoring Raf’s raised eyebrows. Taking a few sips, she closed her eyes and almost let out a moan.

“God I needed this,” she said, “It’s definitely been one of those weeks.”

“Do tell,” Morven prompted, “Raf said something about a dating app?”

Serena groaned. “Have you ever used one?” she asked Morven who blushed, “Well if you haven’t, I don’t recommend it. Men are terrible. I don’t know why I bother.”

“Hey!” Fletch said, “We’re not all that bad!”

“Present company excepted,” Serena said, waving her hand across the table at Fletch and Raf, “It’s enough to make me give up on men entirely. There’s got to be better options out there.”

Raf and Fletch shared a glance that Serena didn’t notice. Instead she focussed back on the wine and soon the glass was empty.

“Right, I need more of that. Anyone else want anything? I’ll get a round in.”

She stood, grabbing her purse out of her handbag, knocking her phone onto her seat in the process.

“I wouldn’t mind another beer boss,” Fletch said.

“Me too,” Raf said.

“Morven?”

“I’m alright thank you Serena. I need to head off soon anyway. Early start tomorrow and all.”

Serena nodded and turned to fight her way through the crowds to the bar.

The others watched her go.

“You think she’s really ok?” Morven asked.

Raf shrugged. “I’m not sure. She’s really been through the ringer over the past few years and now from the sound of it, this dating app thing is just causing her more stress.”

Just then, as if on cue, Serena’s phone beeped. Morven, on the seat next to it, glanced down at it.

“Speak of the devil, it’s that app!” She picked it up and held it out to the boys. “Looks like she’s got another admirer!”

Fletch reached across and prodded the screen which was suddenly filled with a rather out of focus image of a male body part. He lurched back in surprise.

“Men really are pigs,” he said as Raf laughed and Morven spun the phone to see what was going on. It was lucky that she had a firm grasp or the phone may well have ended up in her gin and tonic judging by the shocked look on her face. She quickly put the phone face down on the table.

“No wonder she’s been having a bad day if that is what she’s being sent!” she said.

“I dunno,” Raf said, turned the phone for a second look, “It’s got some artistic merit. See how the blurring makes it almost look romantic.”

Gales of laughter emanating from their table caused Serena to turn and stare at them. From all the way across the room though, she couldn’t see what was making them all laugh so hard.

“Do you think she meant what she said,” Fletch said once the laughter had calmed, “About looking at better options?”

Morven looked confused. “What does she mean? Like a more sophisticated dating app? Or meeting people in person?”

Raf shook his head. “No. I think she meant better options than men. Like women.”

“Serena’s bi?” Morven asked.

“Have you seen the way she flirts with Jac Naylor?” Fletch said in response, “She’s forever complimenting her on her cheekbones.”

“She’s never said the words to me,” Raf said, “But I’ve always assumed. And definitely after that comment.”

Morven tipped her head on her side, thinking. “Do you think she’s been looking for women on that dating app? Are there even women looking for women on there?”

Fletch picked up the phone and opened up the dating app once more. He pulled up her profile and found the settings.

“She’s down as looking for men but there is an option to look for women. Do you think we should change it?”

Raf shook his head. “We shouldn’t…”

“But if it would help her. Maybe she’s too scared to do it herself,” Morven said, “She’s clearly not all that open about that part of her sexuality. Maybe this would be the push she needs.”

Fletch began doing something on the phone and before Raf could stop him, he’d changed the settings.

“There. I’ve removed the looking for men part entirely so she should only get women on there now.”

“I’m really not sure…” Raf said, glancing nervously at the bar.

“Oh stop being a worry-wart,” Morven said, “It’ll be fine. Maybe she’ll meet the love of her live and then she’ll be thanking us.”

“Watch out,” Fletch said, “Here she comes.”

And Serena was indeed there, pushing her way back to their table laden with two glasses of beer and an entire bottle of wine.

“Here you go,” she said, doling out the beer to the boys, “Now, what was all that hilarity a few moments ago?”

As Fletch speedily made up a lie about one of the Fletchlings latest school report, Serena poured out a large glass of wine and sunk deeper into the chair. It was good to be here with her colleagues. Who needed men anyway? Surely it was a much better option just to stick to friendships.


	2. Chapter 2

Her phone stayed quiet over the next few days. Assuming that she’d just run through all the men on the app who were ever going to contact her, she didn’t think anything of it. She did get one message from someone called Fiona. It was a pleasant enough message but Serena was confused as to why she had received it. Maybe Fiona had her settings wrong and had herself down as male. It was easy enough to do. She messaged Fiona back to let her know that while she sounded lovely, she maybe should check her settings as Serena wasn’t interested in women.

It had been five days since her week long ultimatum when her phone lit up with a message through the app once more. This one was from someone called Bernie who had noticed that she was a surgeon and asked her what her speciality was.

Bernie was pleasant. Much more pleasant than any of her other conversations on the app. He seemed genuinely interested in her as a person rather than just getting into her knickers. Serena found him easy to talk to as well. They seemed to have a connection that defied the lack of pictures of each other, or the fact that neither of them could type that quickly on their phones.

It was a slow conversation, both of them regularly busy with work and out of contact for long periods of time. She found out that Bernie too was a surgeon, but specialising in trauma. He’s recently been in the RAMC but was back in Holby, and working at St James’ in their ED. They chatted about their children, both of them having challenging relationships with them, before discovering they were very close in age and discussing similar childhood memories. Serena found herself smiling every time she reached for her phone and found that there was a notification for a message from Bernie.

This gentle conversation lasted for two week, on and off as they worked their way round the rest of their lives, and Serena forgot all about her decision to give the app just one more week. Because it looked to her like Bernie was the sort of person she’d been looking for all along. She got the odd other message from other app users in that time but she found herself deleting them without reading them, or even looking at who had sent them. If it wasn’t a message from Bernie, she wasn’t interested.

It was Bernie that eventually brought up meeting in person.

_I’m getting rather frustrated by my phone keyboard today. I’d love to carry on this conversation in person sometime, if you’d be willing?_

Serena couldn’t think of a reason to resist and a meeting was soon set up at a little wine bar in the centre of town for two nights time.

It was a Saturday and Serena, having spent the entire morning routing through her wardrobe, unsuccessfully trying to come up with a suitable outfit for the date, because this definitely was a date, eventually decided to call for help. Sian, laden with shopping bags and with a worryingly large smile on her face, appeared at her door no more than an hour later.

“Oh, I’ve got such plans for you Serena Ballerina, that Bernie won’t know what’s hit him!”

Serena sighed, worried now about what she had let herself in for, but allowed Sian to squeeze past her and up the stairs to her bedroom.

Outfit after outfit was thrown Serena’s way and she dutifully put them each on and posed for Sian as she critiqued them all.

“No, not low cut enough. You need to show off your assets!”

“Not tight enough. You’ve got curves woman, stop hiding them!”

“Nope. Not unless you’re going for the mutton dressed like lamb look!”

It seemed to take forever before Sian declared the outfit Serena had on the winner. Serena turned to look at herself in the mirror. It was a deep red dress, low cut at the front and tight-fitting but with a long enough skirt to avoid looking like she was trying to be a teenager again and a sturdy enough bodice that she felt confident she wouldn’t be falling out of it anytime soon. Due to the chill in the air that night, Sian had allowed her to balance the red of the dress with a black shawl, currently draped delicately over her shoulders. On her feet was a pair of black stilettos that Serena was slightly concerned she wouldn’t be able to walk in.

“That just means he’ll have to let you take his arm!” Sian had said, glee in her voice, when Serena had tried to complain. “Besides, they make your legs look delectable!”

She spun slightly to admire the outfit from different angles. Sian was right, she did look good in it. She smiled, picturing herself on the arm of Bernie. Or more truthfully, picturing herself on the arm of a generically handsome man who seemed to be without a face in her mind. It seemed that her imagination just couldn’t put together a face that would match the messages she’d been receiving for the past few weeks. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Tonight though, she’d get to find out what Bernie actually looked like. Then horror shot through her.

“Sian,” she said, slowly, “What if Bernie is…well…what if I’m not attracted to him?”

Sian looked at her confused. “You mean to say you’ve agreed to this date but you haven’t actually yet exchanged pictures?”

Serena shook her head. “I thought that was the point of this app, to get a connection before you see what they actually look like.”

“Well yes, but it’s still traditional to swap pictures before you actually meet up. I mean what if he’s got one of those awful moustaches? Can you imagine kissing him with that tickling your nose?”

Serena sunk down onto the bed. “Oh god. I think I’ve made a huge mistake. Do you think I can get out of it now?”

Sian sat down next to her. “Of course you can get out of it, if you really want to. You know you don’t have to turn up. But I also know that you’ve been talking to me about this Bernie chap none stop over the past week so I think you should probably not stand him up. Why don’t you go along, see what he looks like, and then decide whether he’s a potential partner or just someone you want to be friends with? Because whatever he looks like, you know you like him already. You’d kick yourself as well if he turns out to be tall, dark and handsome.”

She patted Serena on the arm. “Come on now, nothing ventured nothing gained.”

Serena nodded, thinking over Sian’s words. She was correct in that she liked Bernie already. He was kind and considerate, but also interesting. That connection they had formed was not going anywhere, even if there was no sexual spark between them.

The bar was busy when she arrived and she glanced around the room, searching for Bernie. He’d said that he would be wearing a red rose in his buttonhole and Serena had a matching rose in her hand. Most people in the bar were there in groups and she discounted them instantly. There were just a small number of people sat at tables alone. Only two of them were men and neither of them had a rose. There was a woman sat in a booth to the side who had a red rose in her buttonhole. Serena wondered if she too was waiting for a blind date. She smiled at her, comrades in the battlefield of love, before finding herself an empty table and settling down to wait.

She didn’t expect the woman from the booth to appear at her side once she’d sat herself down.

“Serena?” the woman asked.

Serena turned, astonished, to look at her. She was slim with blonde hair, neatly falling around her face in waves. A rather attractive woman by all counts. But why did she know Serena’s name?

“Yes?” she replied, confused.

The woman stuck out her hand. “I’m Bernie.”

The shock must have shown on Serena’s face and Bernie quickly withdrew her hand.

“Are you okay?” she asked, taking a step away from her, worry lines visible on her forehead.

Serena just gaped at her. Bernie was a woman? Since when? She’d spent two weeks talking to her via the app and she’d never once thought that she was anything other than a man.

“If you don’t want to do this…” Bernie began, shifting her weight from side to side, clearly nervous now.

Serena shook herself and remembered the words that Sian had said to her. She liked Bernie already. So what if she was a woman? Didn’t stop them being friends, even if anything else seemed unlikely.

“No, no sorry. Please sit down. I just didn’t expect someone like you!”

Bernie gave a small smile and took the chair next to Serena.

“I should get you a drink,” she said and pushed the wine menu towards Serena, “Didn’t you say you liked Shiraz?”

Serena took the menu and ran her finger down it, grateful to have something to do that wasn’t just stare at Bernie and try to figure out how she could have misread the situation so badly. She selected one that sounded good and pointed it out to Bernie.

“Get a bottle,” she said and Bernie nodded. She took the menu from Serena and headed over to the bar.

Serena watched her go for a moment before pulling out her phone and opening up the dating app. She brought up Bernie’s messages and read them through, trying to find any detail that might suggest that she was a woman.

Turned out that with the power of hindsight, it was blatantly obvious that Bernie was a woman. There had been a discussion about how hard it was to be a female surgeon that Serena at the time had dismissed as Bernie being an understanding man with a feminist streak. The ex that she worked with at St James’ (much to her dismay) was referred to as ‘he’ which Serena had assumed was a typo. And the flirty discussion about what they were going to wear tonight made much more sense coming from another woman. She didn’t know many men outside of university sports’ clubs that referred to their suit jackets as blazers.

Thoroughly embarrassed by her obliviousness, she slipped her phone back into her bag and determined to have a good night with Bernie anyway. She was a nice person and didn’t deserve Serena walking out on her for reasons that were not her fault. So what if this wasn’t going to go anywhere further romantically? She was short of friends, particularly female friends of a certain age, and it would be nice to make a new one. She could always tell Bernie at the end of the evening that she just didn’t feel a spark but still wanted to be friends. She’d said the same to many men in the past, although admittedly she didn’t actually want to be friends with any of them! At some point she would have to figure out why Bernie managed to find her on the app but now was not the time. Her mind flickered briefly back to the message from Fiona but Bernie returned from the bar at just that moment and she forgot all about it in favour of trying the wine.

“So…” Bernie began, after silence had begun to stretch into awkwardness, “Got any plans for Christmas?”

Serena chuckled at the unimaginative questions. At this point in December, she wasn’t sure small talk started with any other question. Still, it was an easy one to answer.

“My daughter, Elinor, is deigning to make an appearance this year so I’m putting on the full picture postcard Christmas for her and my nephew.”

Bernie smiled. “Sounds nice. I’m down to work. Figured that since my children still aren’t speaking to me, I might as well be at the hospital. Let those with families have their fun and I’ll take that day in the new year instead.”

“Oh Bernie!” Serena said, suddenly feeling a wave of emotion for her, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset! I promise that my Christmas will not live up to any expectations. I’m fully expecting Elinor to abandon me in favour of her father by mid-afternoon leaving me with a mountain of washing up.”

“Hey now, I brought it up. There’s nothing to apologise for. I genuinely don’t mind working. There’s always a nice atmosphere on Christmas day, plus loads of food!”

“I remember it well from my days as a house officer,” Serena said, “Mince pies coming out of our ears!”

Conversation flowed from there, reminiscing about their early days as junior doctors. Serena soon forgot that she was supposed to be on a date with a woman and just basked in the warmth of Bernie’s conversation. She found herself leaning closer to the other woman as the night wore on, not really understanding why. Bernie had moved as well and their legs pressed together, sending warmth all the way up through Serena’s body.

They only stopped talking, and drinking, when the bartender called last orders. Serena was shocked to discover how late it was. Talking to Bernie had been so easy it had felt like no time at all. She found herself not wanting to go home, wanting to stay and talk to Bernie for longer, but the bar was closing and they were far too old to continue in a nightclub so reluctantly they both pulled on coats and headed out into the night.

“How are you getting home?” Bernie asked as they stood shivering on the pavement outside.

“Taxi,” Serena said, “There’s a rank around the corner. How about you?”

“Oh I was just going to walk. It’s not too far. But let me walk you to the taxi rank first.”

Serena nodded and smiled at her. Bernie held out an arm for Serena to take and she had a sudden flashback to the words Sian had said to her earlier about her shoes. She was a little wobbly on the stilettos though so she took Bernie’s arm despite the implications. It was nice anyway, walking arm in arm with someone as handsome as Bernie. Because she was handsome, despite being a woman, Serena thought.

They reached the taxi rank where there was a short queue forming and stopped in a patch of darkness, a few steps away from the end of the queue.

“Thank you,” Serena said, pulling her arm out of Bernie’s, “I’ve had a lovely evening.”

“Me too,” Bernie said.

She was looking at Serena with a peculiar look in her eyes. Then she took a step forward. Serena froze as Bernie’s hand reached up and slid around her neck. She knew what was coming, and probably should be stopping it, but something in her didn’t want to. She let her eyes close as Bernie leant in and placed a gentle kiss on Serena’s lips. She pulled back immediately and Serena opened her eyes to meet Bernie’s own.

“I’d like to see you again,” Bernie said.

And Serena could do nothing else but nod. Because there had been something about that kiss, well something about Bernie all evening really, that made Serena want to come back for more and more. She didn’t understand what was happening, or why suddenly, at the grand old age of 51, she was attracted to a women, but she was. And she didn’t intend on letting her go.


End file.
